Yesterday I sat hoping to enjoy this movie; it has a 6.1 rating so I thought it would be at least decent. Well, maybe it is to most of those 76 viewers but I found it a bit too insipid to watch.
It is one thing to cast an actor to play a role of a distinctive character IF that role is incidental to the plot, BUT if that role is pivotal and is being played by one of the major cast then it is of absolute imporance that you cast someone who has the chops to pull it off.
Jamaicans are more than their accent. To bring a Jamaican character to life you either have to get a real Jamaican to play the part or get an actor who can capture that authenticity. The actor playing the Jamaican did not only fail to exude that authenticity, he also failed to speak the accent. Therefore, despite his genuine attmpt to play the part, it makes the scene more comedic than dramatic and that leaves a bitter feeling in my stomach.
I was so turned off to the point I had to research the actor's backround. I found out that he is from Liberia, which explains the Africanesque accent that kept bursting through when he tried to speak Jamaican. The facial features he expressed when speaking to his "daddy" were also not reflective of a Jamaican.
These are things necessary if you want to pass the authenticity test and the actor failed to do this and so I could not go further than 28 minutes.
